Cured leprosy patients have nowhere to go

KOZHIKODE: Can you imagine a situation where even after being cured of your disease, you have to spend the rest of your life inside the four walls of the hospital?The 134 inmates of the leprosy hospital in Chevayoor are condemned to such a fate, which indicates the failure of repeated campaigns to remove the age old social stigma of leprosy.With no one to look after and take up their responsibility, most of the inmates have been left to spend their entire life inside the hospital itself for the past several decades.Chandran, a native of Kannur, who has been living here for the past 51 years ,said,"We are forced to live our entire life here. The society will never accept us though we are completely cured of the disease. People including our own family members are afraid of us."Most of them are once again going through the difficult times of their life at their oldage with rarely any dear ones to help other than the hospital officials.Though government has done everything including providing employment and other facilities for their well being in the hospital, these people are living an isolated life away from the society."People here are no more patients, but it is the fear among the people which causes all these problems. These people are here for decades and wouldn't go home as their family members are not ready to accept them. They will live their entire life here."This is not the case of this hospital alone. The condition is same in other two government run leprosy hospitals in the state at Koratty and Nooranad," superintendent of the hospital S N Ravikumar said.The inmates have a temple, mosque and church inside the hospital compound.The government has given employment for 34 of the inhabitants in the hospital itself. A spinning centre of the Khadhi Board is also functioning there, which provides employment for eight women inmates. Besides this, the inmates have a cooperative society and a canteen is also there in the compound.A patient in her late sixties, on condition of anonymity said, "This is the will of the God and we are happy here. Our family members are leading a better life and are highly respected in the society."So we don't want to go home and become a thorn in their life. The only issue here is if one of us falls ill and gets admitted at the Medical College, there will be nobody to look after us."